"James, honey! Wake up! Breakfast is ready." James heard his mother's voice in his ears. His slowly opens his eyes and realized the date. Today was the day that he would be returning to Hogwarts! He jumped out of bed. "Mum!" He yelled into the hallway. "Can I take a shower before breakfast?" His mother told him to take a quick one because breakfast was about to be served. When he arrived downstairs everyone else was already there. Sirius had just helped himself to some bacon and his father was sipping his tea while reading The Daily Prophet. James sat down in a chair and his mother gave him a plate with scrambled eggs. "I have prepared some sandwiches for you boys. If I remember correctly the Trolley Lady only has candies on her cart. Not really a healthy choice if you ask me." Fleamont shot James and Sirius a look over his newspaper. Sirius winked at James, both knowing that their lunch would consist out of candy. Half an hour later Fleamont clapped in his hands. "Boys, time to go! If we don't leave soon, you might be late for the train." Euphemia took her wand and pointed it at their trunks who started floating in the air. She followed them into the hallway towards the driveway where the car was.
James grabbed his jacket and walked to the car. He sat down next to Sirius in the back and his father slowly backed the car out of the driveway. The drive to Charing Cross was easy since there was almost no traffic this time. Euphemia was humming along with a song on the radio. James and Sirius were talking in the back of the car about their upcoming year. "I can't believe we will be in our third year already, mate." Sirius stretched his hands out in front of him. "There's got to be some more serious stuff taught to us this year. Especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts." James nodded. "We'll see! We do have some new classes though. Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Both sounds boring as a ghoul, but we can't drop them until our sixth year." Fleamont laughed. "Boy, you are already talking about dropping classes you haven't even followed yet. You might enjoy them."
They arrived at Charing Cross where it took some time to find a parking spot. Still, they had a good amount of time left. The four of them made their way over the magical wall where you needed to go through. They casually walked towards the wall while keeping conversation, not drawing any attention to them while they glided through the bricks. The platform was slowly filling with smoke from the train. Students were saying goodbye to their parents and hello to their friends. Owls were screeching, cats were hissing and James felt his heart swell. How much he loved to be with his parents at home, Hogwarts was home as well.
Sirius was craning his neck to look over the crowd. "I see them! They are at the end of the train." They quickly made their way over to Remus and Peter, who were standing with their parents. Everyone greeted each other. Lyall and Hope Lupin were asking Fleamont how he was doing, who confirmed he was doing fine. James saw his mother slip her hand onto her husband's back and stroke it."I think it's time for you boys to go on the train!" Peter's mum said. Everyone helped with their trunks before saying goodbye. Remus was hugging is mum, while Peter was saying goodbye to his dad. James turned around to his parents. His mother closed him in her arms and whispered: "Be good, love. Do your best this year. We'll owl you soon!" James let go of Euphemia and turned towards his father whom he hugged. "James, do well in school. Don't go looking for trouble and behave." James grinned into his fathers shoulder. "I can't make promises like that." His father put his hands on James' shoulders and extended him, looking stern. "Joking dad! Come on! But can you promise me one thing as well?" Fleamont rolled his eyes, but could not suppress a smirk. The same smirk James usually had as well. "Take care of yourself. I am happy you are doing better after you collapsed. But sometimes I can't help to worry." Fleamont smiled. "That is a promise!"
Euphemia just released Sirius from a crushing hug and shooed the boys onto the train. The boys quickly hopped started looking for an empty compartment. The train started moving and quickly they waved one last time at their parents. Soon they left the Charing Cross behind them.
The train ride started breezy. Discussing the last part of the holiday when the friends were apart. But after an hour or so the topic became more serious than style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanInstead of the casual prank-planning which was discussed by now, they were inquiring about Remus his well-being. "When is your next full moon?" Sirius asked Remus. "In 12 days." He sighed. "I can hardly wait." He added sarcastically, but his eyes gave his true feelings away. James chuckled. "Well, we should try to become Animagi again. Shouldn't we? I mean, we are getting into that part of the year again where thunder and lightning is more frequent." James looked at Remus before continuing. "Maybe you will only have a few full moons alone left. Before you know it we will be joining you." Sirius nodded excitingly before chiming in. "Imagine this." He said in a voice as he was trying to sketch the image. "The four of us, roaming the grounds of the castle and Hogsmeade. Nobody will know what we are or what we are doing. We will have all the freedom in the world." This last sentence he exclaimed while laying back into his seat with his eyes closed, enjoying this particular thought.
Remus looked like he was fighting with himself. James, knowing his friend for more than 2 years now, knew exactly what was going on in Remus his mind. "Mate, we already discussed this." Peter was nodding in agreement, but didn't take any part in this discussion. Remus' eyes darted between the faces of his friends, looking a bit frantic. "I know that, but …" James rolled his eyes and interrupted. "No. No buts. You know we will do it anyway. This whole plan started with the intention of you accompanying you to make it easier. But it's bigger than that now! Have you got any idea how cool it would be to be an illegal Animagus?" James piped up. Sirius shifted in his seat. "Ah! All the possibilities! The ultimate freedom." James saw a smile escape Remus his mouth, like he had a hard time hiding his amusement. After a moment of silence Remus agreed trying to sound grudgingly. "Fine! I'll let it go already. It might not work again. A lot of things could go wrong."
"Thanks for the support, mate. We appreciate your positive attitude in this matter." Sirius clapped his friend on the back. They all laughed and that was the end of this discussion for now.
Early in the afternoon the trolley came by. James' his stomach growled a bit. "Finally!" Peter exclaimed while dipping his hand into his pocket, trying to retrieve his moneybag. Their door slid open and the lady was looking expectantly at them. "Good day boys! Fancy anything from my cart?" Remus jumped up and started pointing at various goods of chocolate. "It seems that his stash is low." Sirius whispered to James who grinned. "Seems like it. Luckily for him he can stock up now with that time of the month coming up." Remus returned to his seat. His arms were holding several chocolate bars, chocolate frogs and a few items James didn't recognize. Peter was now paying the lady and Sirius was eying her cart, trying to decide what to eat.
James joined him and ordered: "Can I have a bag of chocolate frogs, eight pumpkin pasties and a bag of toffees please." The lady collected his order, while James got his money. Sirius finally decided he wanted some acid pops and pepper imps. The lady closed their compartment door and left them to their own. There was an enjoyable silence for a moment. The four of them were enjoying their candy. But soon the silence was broken by Sirius, who was making curious noises. He was breathing heavily, while sweat was appearing on his forehead. His cheeks were flushed red and the rest of his face followed slowly. "God, Sirius!" Remus exclaimed. "You like awful! Do you honestly enjoy this?" Sirius put up his hand, unable to answer. "Aren't you used to this by now?" Peter asked Remus. "He does this every time. You would think that he is used to it by now." Sirius made a noise that sounded like he was choking half and he started coughing. James hit him on his back, while laughing loudly. But his hitting didn't help at all. Sirius his face was slowly changing color. "Anapneo." Remus had pointed his wand at Sirius, who was gulping for air now. He brought his hands to his throat and thanked Remus hoarsely.
"Would be a shame if you didn't make it to Hogwarts. Choking on a pepper imp isn't really heroic, isn't it?" Remus said amused. Sirius slumped back into his chair, caressing his throat sensitively. The last few hours passed by. Chocolate Frogs cards were being traded and new pranks were planned. When dusk came they changed into their robes. Hogwarts was coming into sight and it couldn't be long anymore before they would reach the station of Hogsmeade. And indeed, twenty minutes later the train came to a halt. James joined the stream of students into the corridor of the train and within a few minutes he was breathing in the cold, crispy fall air. "First years! First years over here please!" James saw groundkeeper Hagrid gather the first years and thought back to his very first day, two years ago. "I was so nervous two years ago." He said to Peter. "I had no idea what to expect." Peter agreed. "Same here. The moment I stepped out of that boat I felt so sick. I regretted eating that much candy on the train." James chuckled. "Yeah, my stomach also did a few flips. But look at us now, in our third year." Peter looked excited. "Allowed to go to Hogsmeade this year." As they were following the stream of students towards the carriages, they were discussing what they could do during these weekends. Soon they found an empty one and Remus, Sirius, Peter and James took place in it. The carriage started to move and soon they were on their way to Hogwarts.
